ONE
Aria
The Sanctorum was no longer a room. It was an open wound in the sky.
I stood in the center of the chamber, my head tilted back, staring up at a ceiling that wasn't there anymore. The heavy stone dome, which had pressed down on generations of Keepers like a physical manifestation of our burden, had dissolved into a shimmering veil of aurora light. Beyond it, pressing uncomfortably close against the fabric of our reality, lay a landscape of impossible mountains and clouds that burned with internal gold.
Olympus.
It hung above us like a planet in low orbit, massive and terrifying, its gravity tugging at the blood in my veins. The air in the Sanctorum tasted thin and sharp, smelling of ozone and crushed pine needles, scents that didn't belong in the chamber I had visited every day for the last few years.
"I broke it," I whispered, both awed and horrified by what my actions might have done.
"We changed it," Kaelen corrected, his voice rough.
I turned to look at him. The Dragon Prince stood solid beside me, no longer flickering or translucent. He looked terrifyingly real, stripped of the dream-haze that had always softened his edges in the Threshold. But he wasn't free.
Thick cords of golden light, pulsing like arteries, tethered his wrists and chest to the Gate's structure. They weren't the black iron chains of Tartarus anymore; they were woven from my own magic, from the choice I had made to bind us together. He was anchored to the rift I had torn open, a living keystone holding two colliding worlds apart.
"I broke the world," I said, the realization settling in my stomach like lead. "Look at the walls."
The stone boundaries of the Sanctorum were shivering, phasing in and out of existence. Where the masonry vanished, glimpses of a dark, star-speckled void peeked through. We weren't just in the Sanctorum; we were everywhere and nowhere, suspended in the friction between realms.
Kaelen stepped toward me, the golden tethers pulling taut but holding. He reached out, his fingers grazing my cheek. His touch was warm, fever-hot, radiating the dragon fire that had saved my life. "You ended the lie, Aria. Chaos is just the truth sorting itself out."
A howl shattered the moment.
It didn't come from the mountains above or the tunnels below. It vibrated from the Gate itself, that swirling vortex of light and shadow standing in the center of the room. It was a sound of pure, predatory impatience, jagged with raw need.
Flynn.
My heart hammered a double beat against my ribs. "The others… They're still in there." They had started to come into our world, I had seen it. But something had changed, stopped them from completing the transition.
I spun toward the Gate. The surface was a roiling storm of amber and grey, clouds of magic spiraling around a central darkness. I could feel Flynn close to the surface, pacing, his claws raking against the barrier that had become a membrane.
"They should be here," I said, panic spiking. "The Wolf's Heart seal shattered when Ellie stabbed me. The Bear's Sorrow dissolved. They should all be standing here with you, with us."
"The door is open," Kaelen said, his eyes narrowing as he watched the swirling energy. "But they have to step through." He paused and his head cocked to the side as though he was listening to something I couldn't hear. "Or be pulled."
Another howl ripped through the air, louder this time, laced with pain. It wasn't just impatience; he was stuck. Caught in the friction I had created.
I moved to the Gate without thinking. My hands, still stained with dried blood and glowing with the golden markings of my transformation, reached for the place where the Wolf's Heart seal used to sit. The stone there was scorched and cracked, bleeding silver light.
"Flynn," I called out, pushing my consciousness into the connection.
I felt him immediately. A blast of winter air, the scent of wet fur and iron, and a chaotic, savage panic. He was fighting a current I couldn't see, trapped in the turbulence between the Threshold and the Sanctorum.
Aria!His voice roared in my mind, not words so much as a blast of intent.Pull me!
I grabbed the golden thread that connected me to him, a bond forged in dreams and solidified by years of my blood offerings, and I hauled back with everything I had.
It felt like trying to drag a mountain. The resistance was immense, a physical weight that strained my muscles and mademy bones groan. I dug my boots into the shifting floor, gritting my teeth.
"Come on," I snarled, channeling the power of the transformed Gate. "Cross over!"
The Gate flared, amber light exploding outward. I felt Flynn's form begin to materialize, the heavy pressure of his presence pushing into the room. A hand, clawed and furred, swiftly shifting to human skin, reached out from the light, grasping for purchase.
I reached for him.
